A step ahead of the pack

His interest in cross country can be traced to the day he prevailed in a one-mile run during a fourth-grade physical fitness test.

"I was the fastest in the grade and I realized, hey, maybe this is something that I can do. I did it again in sixth grade and I just progressed. I kept that in the back of my mind. I didn't take anything too seriously until high school when I decided to run," Levene recalled.

Now he's among the very fastest in the state covering 5,000 meters of woodsy terrain.

The defending South-West Conference and Class M state champion, Levene placed eighth at last year's State Open. The only returnee to finish higher, Danbury senior Tucker Schaefer, beat Levene by five seconds to take seventh.

"As the years have gone by he has developed into a mentally strong and smart runner," Barlow coach Jerry Bielizna said. "He can read a race."

"He's incredible. He's been good since the get-go," said New Milford High coach Chris Bacich. "He's strong and he's an incredibly confident runner. And from what I understand his work ethic is very strong, too."

Showing early promise, Levene took 11th in the SWC, ninth in Class M and 47th at the Open as a freshman. Peaking in the postseason of his sophomore year, he was the runner-up at the league meet and in Class M, and finished 10th at the State Open.

As he begins his final cross country campaign with an eye on being the Open champion, he believes he's prepared for the challenge.

"You always feel like you could be better," Levene said, "but I feel like I've trained a significant amount in the summer so I feel pretty good coming into the season."

After gradually building up a nice base this summer, he was doing 60 miles per week when he returned to The Running Academy camp last month for the third year in a row.

"As we get into the season I'll probably start doing more speed work to get a kick going. Right now I've just have a lot of long miles underneath me," he said.

"I think he has a great potential to improve this year and even beyond high school because I think he's untapped physically and conditioning-wise," said Rob Murray, the Danbury High coach and a co-owner of The Running Academy. "He still has a (high) ceiling."

Levene trained with Danbury's indoor track team last winter, working out with the cross country standouts that finished fifth at the Nike Team Nationals in Oregon last fall. Matt Terry, one of the Hatters' standouts, and Justin and Jeremy Garavel, a pair of Levene's former teammates, are cousins.

"Through them I started to meet the guys at Danbury and then I finally asked the coach if I could train with them after the Garavel's had left during the winter because they had run the previous winter and said it would help tremendously," Levene said.

The Garavel twins were right. It was eye-opening and extremely beneficial.

"Not only do they run more, they take their sport seriously. They know their sport. Outside of training, the atmosphere I think is a big part of it. They do everything together. They're always joking around, always singing on their runs, always having a good time. Yet when they need to get something done, they get it done. They find that balance between play and work," Levene said.

"And they do welcome anyone. They accepted me for the winter and didn't treat me any differently. They're easy to get a long with and easy to adapt to."

"It's given him a chance to work out with a lot of quality runners who are well-coached and have great ability," Bielizna said.

Said Murray: "I think it gave him a fresh perspective about what's out there and the things he needs to maybe incorporate in his cross country or outdoor seasons with Joel Barlow and carry some of those concepts into his own training."

Not surprisingly, Levene and Schaefer have a friendly relationship -- even if they might find themselves sprinting side by side on the grass incline that precedes the State Open finish line at Wickham Park.

"We've joked around about it. We both know that it's going to be a challenge, we're both going to want it and it should be a good race," Levene said. "I'm not going to say that I don't want it but I just have to go out there and do my best and see what happens. I've worked hard and I'll see where it takes me."

Said Bielizna: "He's a genuinely nice guy and he's a team man. He's helping everybody out. He's for the team and he's good friends with a lot of his competitors."

Levene has been navigating the recruiting process slowly and carefully. He's still determining where he'll go on his five official college visits, though he's already been to several on his own.

"I have visited quite a few colleges. I've talked to quite a few coaches. I'm still not sure exactly where I want to go or what I want to do. I know that I want to get into the Health Sciences and run whether it's D-I, D-II or D-III," he said. "As long as it's a good fit for me athletically and academically is the most important thing. It's an adventure to find a college."

Running is his niche and always was. He jokes how someone would ask, "Do you know Mike Levene?" and the answer would be, "Yeah, isn't he the fast kid?"

He admits, "I stopped baseball right away because there wasn't enough running for me." Naturally he always was among the fastest kids on his youth soccer teams.

Unspoiled by his running success, Levene still enjoys participating in other sports.

"I'm always up for a pick-up game of basketball. Football if anyone wants to play. If someone wants to play a pick-up game and I'm available"�I'll be glad to get out there and play," he said.